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Classic cars are like chocolates - each one promises a sugar 'n' cocoa rush, they're all equally valid and loved by some, but not every one is a caramel swirl. Ranked by customer usage and feedback, here are the cars from our 20+ hire fleet that were more toffee chew than orange creme.

The 2018 rankings reflect how our business is changing - our customers increasingly want to drive great cars, rather than just cars from 40 or 60 years ago, which younger drivers find harder to drive and less enjoyable. The latest additions to our fleet - Jaguar XKR and Porsche 996 - reflect the demand for a great day out in great cars, perhaps without as much hard work. But we know some of those older cars will always remain popular - who wouldn't want to master a choke in order to enjoy an E Type?

1. Jaguar E Type (2017: #1)

No surprises here - the E Type once again tops the chart and explains why for 2019 we'll have three of these beau…

The E Type has become one of those cars that is popular by default. It regularly tops popularity lists. That ubiquity can make it easy to forget just why this car is so popular. So popular, in fact, that Great Escape Cars has three on its fleet - more than any other model.

But there are also people who just don't get the E Type. For them, and as a quick reminder, here are the five reasons we think it's ace.

1. It looks, well, like this.

Is there another car shape that looks nearly as good as the E Type? The shape was designed to be aerodynamic rather than beautiful, which is perhaps why it achieves the latter without seeming to try too hard.
From the long bonnet to the squat tail, the E Type just looks like a car you want to drive. Jaguar may have fiddled with the details during its extended lifespan, but until it bowed out in 1975 it remained a beautiful car. Quite an achievement.

2.That View

There are few views finer from a driver - or passenger - seat than the one down t…

Jaguar, by most measures, has achieved a dramatic renaissance in recent years. New models, new technology, investment in heritage and burgeoning sales. Hoorah.

Most people chart that recovery back to the mid-noughties XJ and XF, two fine-looking saloons that reinvented what being a Jaguar meant. Out went the recycling of history, in came fresh, svelte lines, but ones that were clearly Jaguar.

I see the change, however, starting a little earlier. With the XKR in fact. Jaguar's late-90s coupe may have made more than a nod to the company's design heritage, in particular the E Type, but it also moved the game on considerably in terms of performance. Finally, here was a kick-ass, 400 bhp V8 sports car that could take the fight to Mercedes and BMW.

And it did. The XKR sold well, particularly in the USA where it re-established Jaguar's place in the lucrative sports car market in a way that the venerable XJS never quite managed. It was well built, pretty reliable and easy…